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Show HOW TO JUDGE TSE HORSE'S AGE Until a horse is over 10 years old the teeth furnish aa indication of age which is fairly accurate. In estimating estimat-ing the age of a horse, only the three pairs of front teeth or nippers on each jaw are considered. Horses, like human beings, have two sets of teeth; the first set, known as milk teeth, being replaced by permanent teeth. New teetli have deep cuts, or indentations, at their centers. As the teeth wear down these cups disappear. dis-appear. A colt does not usually get its first pair of nippers until it is a few days old, but has all three pairs by the time it is 6 to 10 months old. Until a colt is three years old, however, its general appearance is relied upon largely to Indicate its age. Following Follow-ing is a description of yearly changes which ordinarily occur in the teeth of a horse. One Year The center pair of milk incisors know i as the pinchers, and the pair next to them, known as the intermediates, are well through the gums and in contact but the corner pairs do not yet m eet on a level. Two Years The pinchers and the j intermediates indicate that they are I being crowded by the permanent tooth, as they are pushed free from j their gums at the base. By the time ths colt is 2 yean old the middle pinchers Bhould be' through. The permanent teeth are much larger than the temporary ones. Three Years The middle pinchers are large enough for use. Their deep cuts show plainly. The milk intermediates interme-diates are about to be shed. Four Years The permanent intermediates inter-mediates appear at 3 years and are ready for use at 4. The corner teeth give evidence that the corners are coming. The cups in the pinchers 'are about one third gone. (The tusks, or canine teeth, of the male eolts may appear about this time.- Flve Years The temporary corner cor-ner teeth are shed at 4 and the permanent ones are ready to use. The horse has now what is known as a full mouth, all permanent incisors being ready to use. The cups of the first pair are about two thirds gone. Six Years The cups in the center pair have nearly disappeared. In the second pair they are about two-thirds two-thirds gone. Seven Years The cups from the second pair are now gone. There is a notch In the upper corner tooth where it overlaps the lower one. Eight Years The cups having all worn out of the lower nippers, we now look at the upper jaw. Although though cups remain in the center pair they are not deep. Nine Years The cups in the center cen-ter pair of nipperB on the upper jaw 'have disappeared. They are still present in the other two pairs, being fairly deep in the corner ones. Ten Years The cups are all worn 'out of the second pair on the upper jaw, although they are still present in the corner pair. Older Horses At 11 years all the cups are usually worn out of the incisors in-cisors and it becomes necessary to use some other indication. Estimation Estima-tion of age may now be based upon the angle at which the teeth meet, their change and size of shape. As the horse gets older, the teeth meet more and more at an acute angle; that is. The jaws become oblique. As the teeth wear down, the shape of the worn ends changes from oval to more nearly round and, finally in an aged horse, to a nearly triangular form. Sometimes cups are cut or burned in the teeth of old horses to make their mouths resemble those of younger animals. This practice, known as "Bishoping" may be de-teedted de-teedted if the shape of the tooth and the absence of the ring of enamel which surrounds the natural cup are noted. After a horse is over 12 years old, its condition is more important than its age in determining values. |
